Unspoken

[starlady]

Brennan, Sarah Rees. Unspoken. New York: Random House, 2012.

I think I liked this book best of all Sarah Rees Brennan's that I've read so far. Our hero is Kami Glass, the part-Japanese intrepid girl reporter of her sleepy Cotswolds town, Sorry-in-the-Vale. Sorry-in-the-Vale is distinguished by the Lynburn manor that looms over the town, but the Lynburns have been gone for the past few years--for most of Kami's life, actually. Of course, when the Lynburns return, and Kami learns that her imaginary friend is not all that imaginary, things start to happen.

I enjoyed this book--I enjoyed Kami, who has a wicked sense of humor and a wonderful fashion sense. I also enjoyed the diametrically opposite take on the "soul bonds" trope than is normal in fandom, and I enjoyed the modern update on Gothic novels. I also liked the secondary characters, and spoilery things that happen with them (I mean, here, Angela and Holly). I even enjoyed the mild melodrama and pathetic fallacies of the whole thing. Brennan carries it all off very well.

I do want to say, though, that even saying the fact that Kami and her brothers' names were chosen by their English mother does not really lampshade the fact that they are nothing like actual Japanese names. Brennan also biffs the way Kami refers to her grandmother (I don't think I've ever heard anyone use the word "sobo" in conversation--I had to look it up to figure out what she meant). So, with these caveats aside, this was a fun read with a plucky, brave female protagonist and a dramatic plot that I look forward to hearing more about, particularly after the ending. If you've liked Sarah Rees Brennan's other work, or if plucky girl reporters solving mysteries sound like your thing, I suspect you'll like this book.

Comments

[torachan]

Ugh, I don't understand why people do this. There is just no excuse in this day and age for such shoddy research, and it just really feels gross. Like the author wants to use "exotic" elements like Japanese folks, but can't be assed to do five seconds worth of research.

[starlady]

Yeah, I mean, it's not like there aren't plenty of non-Japanese speakers of Japanese to ask, let alone Japanese speakers of Japanese.

[lnhammer]

Do I dare ask what the brother's name is?

---L.

[thistleingrey]

They're Tenri and Tomo.

I think it is plausible that SRB wrote deliberately "bad" names in, given that I can see some parent wanting to celebrate heritage missing the mark. But then, my parents thought my given name means "musical," which it totally does not, and missed the fact that it's a Hebrew name, so I am biased, eh?

[lnhammer]

Rr?

[starlady]

As I said in not quite so few words below, taken all together it's my strong impression that the opposite is true, i.e. shoddy/nonexistent research. If that were the case, I would have expected Kami to mention it. It's not like London/the Internet are devoid of Japanese media, people, etc.

[oyceter]

Is "Kami" supposed to be for "god/spirit/etc"? That seems to be a kind of odd name to give to a kid in general...

[starlady]

Yeah, and Tenri means principle, and Tomo means friend, but that is not how Japanese children are named. (I could see Tomo being short for something, maaaybe, but from context it's clear that it's not). They're all really odd.

[thistleingrey]

Could "sobo" have been more in use 60+ years ago? I've read it once before in fiction--can't remember where--and wondered whether this could fall under the common thing whereby emigrants with little/no subsequent access to their birth cultures seem super conservative linguistically to younger speakers. Put another way, for how long have kids been calling their grandmothers obaa-chan? (I honestly don't know.)

[starlady]

I don't know how long they've been calling their grandmothers obaa-chan, but I do know that the current honorific/relational language scheme has been in place since at least the Showa period; it's in manga I've read from the 30s, and it wouldn't be so pervasive in early postwar manga if it weren't already patent throughout the society. And given a) the names and b) that Kami is thinking about her grandmother in relation to herself (i,e, how she addressed her grandmother), I don't buy it at all.

[thistleingrey]

Good to know--thanks for the explanation.

[thistleingrey]

One more datum, which splits thinking about her from addressing her: on p. 3 of the PDF of "The Summer before I Met You," Kami addresses her grandmother as "obaasan" and refers to her a minute later (talking to someone else) as "my sobo." I dunno.

[starlady]

*nods* Given that that story was published last summer, I suspect we are seeing here the benefit of doing research.

[thistleingrey]

:D

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Hey-o. Dropped in, saw very kind review, thanks for it, and I do not usually engage, but a comment...

I did want to mess the names up--in a similar way to the way I first noticed Irish names for kids being messed up in America, and then from that noticing noticed the way other names were messed up, crossing cultures.

And with Kami, I wanted her to be referring to her grandmother always as if speaking to someone not in her family but in her head, to illustrate the way she thinks to someone else--she addresses her grandmother as obaasan when speaking to her. Which isn't to say that I didn't mess up, because obviously a) this should all be clearer! and b) good lord, do I not know everything, and while I did consult that only gets one so far, and I mess up all the time. But I did want to be like, for the record, I didn't just go 'Whee, exotic stuff!' and not do any research at all, because that would be intensely gross of me. But also for the record, of course, all messing up and harm that comes from that is on me.

Thanks again for the review, and I am sorry if dropping in is awkward of me. ;)

[starlady]

Thanks for dropping in! I am happy to be corrected in my wrong assumptions, and if anything it sounds like you succeeded too well in your original purpose. :) The other thing, of course, is that I'm something of a specialized audience, since I know Japanese (though am not Japanese myself), and I'm pretty sure that most readers wouldn't think any more of it beyond what Kami said.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

No indeed on the specialised audience bit--as I know there are kids reading who are Asian and part Asian, and naturally some of them know Japanese and also this is one of the scandalously few protagonists they're getting, and while I've visited Japan for this purpose and know the very very basics I am no expert--and it is useful for me to know how things are working or not working or striking people, and the graduations thereof, so I can cause the least hurt possible. So thank you!